CN111738649B

CN111738649B - Track cooperation method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN111738649B
Application number: CN202010301591.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郑若辰
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-16
Filing date: 2020-04-16
Publication date: 2024-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2040-04-16
Also published as: CN111738649A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a track cooperation method, a track cooperation device and a track cooperation system, wherein the method is applied to a logistics storage system, the logistics storage system comprises a three-dimensional goods shelf and a plurality of trolleys capable of shuttling in a running area of the three-dimensional goods shelf, and the method comprises the following steps: determining a second trolley with a conflict path between the planned path and the planned path of the first trolley according to the planned path of each trolley; before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley according to the conflict path and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley. The scheme of the embodiment of the application can improve the operation efficiency of the logistics access system.

Description

Track cooperation method, device and system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the field of automatic logistics, in particular to a track cooperation method, a track cooperation device and a track cooperation system.

Background

The picking system is a convenient and quick logistics management system and comprises a warehouse standing area and a platform area. Staff can set up different floor dollies or transfer robots in the platform district and carry the goods. The carrying trolley can move in the warehouse-setting area and the platform area.

According to the different goods carried by the carrying trolley, the travelling path of the carrying trolley can be preset, and the carrying trolley can travel according to the preset travelling path to carry the goods to the corresponding place. However, when a plurality of transport vehicles exist in an area, the traveling paths among the transport vehicles are likely to collide, and the transport vehicles may travel in opposite directions on the same path, which may cause a jam. When the traveling paths of two carrying trolleys collide, one carrying trolley is controlled to stop advancing before entering the collision path, and after the other carrying trolley completely travels to overshoot the collision path, the other carrying trolley is controlled to continue advancing.

The system has the advantages that when the traveling paths of the two conveying trolleys collide, the traveling paths of the two conveying trolleys are directly stopped, so that a plurality of conveying trolleys in the picking system can be in a state of suspending traveling, and the operation efficiency of the system is greatly reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a track cooperation method, a track cooperation device and a track cooperation system, which are used for improving the operation efficiency of a logistics access system.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a track collaboration method, which is applied to a logistics storage system, where the logistics storage system includes a three-dimensional shelf and a plurality of trolleys capable of shuttling in a driving area of the three-dimensional shelf, and the method includes:

determining a second trolley with a conflict path between the planned path and the planned path of the first trolley according to the planned path of each trolley;

Before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley according to the conflict path and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley.

In one possible implementation manner, the sending, according to the collision path, a first control instruction to the first cart and a second control instruction to the second cart includes:

determining the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley according to the conflict path;

And according to the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley, sending a first control instruction to the first trolley and sending a second control instruction to the second trolley.

In one possible implementation, the driving area is formed by a plurality of path units, and the path units are connected by nodes; the determining the type of the collision path between the first trolley and the second trolley according to the collision path comprises the following steps:

Acquiring the number of nodes included in the conflict paths of the first trolley and the second trolley;

And if the number of the nodes included in the conflict paths is 2, determining the type of the conflict paths between the first trolley and the second trolley as the lane occupation conflict.

And if the number of the nodes included in the conflict paths is greater than 2, determining that the type of the conflict paths between the first trolley and the second trolley is non-occupation conflict.

In one possible implementation manner, the type of the collision path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the non-occupied collision, the collision path comprises a first node and a plurality of second nodes, and the first node is the nearest node to the first trolley on the collision path; wherein:

When the first trolley arrives at the first node and the second trolley does not enter the conflict path, the first control instruction instructs the first trolley to travel according to the re-planned first travel path after traveling to the first node for turning, or instructs the first trolley to travel according to the re-planned second travel path after traveling to one of a plurality of second nodes on the conflict path according to the planned path, wherein when the first trolley travels to the second node i for turning, the second trolley does not arrive at the second node i, and the second node i is one of the plurality of second nodes; and the second control instruction indicates the second trolley to run according to the corresponding planned path.

In one possible implementation, when the first cart arrives at the first node and the second cart has not entered the conflicting path:

if the first time is smaller than or equal to a smaller value in the preset time and the second time, the first control instruction indicates the first trolley to travel according to the first travel path after traveling to the first node to turn;

Otherwise, the first control instruction indicates the first trolley to travel according to the second travel path after turning when traveling to one of a plurality of second nodes on the conflict path according to the planned path;

The first time is the time required by the trolley to travel on the first travel path, and the second time is the time required by the trolley to travel on the second travel path.

In one possible implementation manner, the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the lane occupation conflict, and the conflict path comprises a third node and a fourth node; wherein:

When the distance between the first trolley and the third node is smaller than or equal to a braking distance, and the distance between the second trolley and the fourth node is larger than the braking distance, the first control instruction indicates the first trolley to travel according to a re-planned third travel path after traveling to the third node to turn, wherein the braking distance is the distance of the trolley from starting braking to stopping, and the second control instruction indicates the second trolley to brake and wait before reaching the fourth node.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

Obtaining the first time according to the number of path units included in the first running path and the average running time of each path unit;

And obtaining the second time according to the number of path units included in the second running path and the average running time of each path unit.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

Aiming at any path unit k of the running area, obtaining the initial running time of the path unit k according to the length of the path unit k and the preset speed;

acquiring the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k;

And updating the initial running time of the path unit k according to the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k, so as to obtain the average running time of the path unit k.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a track cooperation device, including:

The processing module is used for determining a second trolley with a collision path between the planned path and the planned path of a first trolley according to the planned path of each trolley, wherein the first trolley and the second trolley are one of a plurality of trolleys which can shuttle in a three-dimensional goods shelf driving area of the logistics storage and retrieval system;

The control module is used for sending a first control instruction to the first trolley and a second control instruction to the second trolley according to the conflict path before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley.

In one possible implementation manner, the control module is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the driving area is formed by a plurality of path units, and the path units are connected by nodes; the control module is specifically used for:

If the first time is smaller than or equal to the smaller value of the preset time and the second time, the first control instruction indicates the first trolley to travel according to the first travel path after traveling to the first node to turn;

In one possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to:

acquiring the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k;

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a track cooperation apparatus, including: at least one processor and memory;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the at least one processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in the memory causes the at least one processor to perform the trajectory coordination method of any one of the first aspects.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a logistics storage system, including a server, a stereoscopic shelf, and a plurality of carts capable of shuttling in a driving area of the stereoscopic shelf, wherein:

The server is configured to obtain planned paths of the plurality of carts, instruct a traveling mode of a first cart and a second cart according to the method of any one of the first aspect, where the first cart is one of the plurality of carts, and the second cart is a cart whose planned path has a collision path with the planned path of the first cart;

the first trolley and the second trolley are used for running according to the running mode indicated by the server.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer-executable instructions are stored, which when executed by a processor, implement the trajectory coordination method according to any one of the first aspects.

According to the track cooperation method, the track cooperation device and the track cooperation system provided by the embodiment of the application, the planned path of each trolley in the logistics storage system is firstly obtained, and the second trolley with the conflict path between the planned path and the planned path of the first trolley is determined according to the planned path of each trolley, wherein the first trolley can be any trolley in the logistics storage system. After a second trolley which conflicts with the planned path of the first trolley is determined, before the first trolley enters the conflict path or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley to indicate the running mode of the first trolley, and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley to indicate the running mode of the second trolley, so that the first trolley and the second trolley are guaranteed to have no conflict in running. According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, aiming at the trolley with the conflict paths in the two planning paths, the running modes of the two trolleys are adjusted before the two trolleys enter the conflict paths, so that the conflict of the running paths of the two trolleys is solved, the path planning of the two trolleys after the two trolleys enter the conflict paths can be avoided, the problem that the trolleys have to pause or reverse in a mode to solve the conflict can be avoided, and the running efficiency of the logistics access system is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions of the prior art, the drawings that are needed in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, it will be obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and that other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort to a person skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a node according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a minimum path unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a track cooperation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a track cooperation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a collision path according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an inverse path provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a track lock point according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a track release according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a track length setting according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of a conflict resolution scheme;

FIG. 12 is a second schematic diagram of conflict resolution provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a track cooperation device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 14 is a schematic hardware structure of a track coordination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.

The concept to which the present application relates will be explained first.

AGV: automated guided vehicle an automatic guided vehicle, also called an automated guided vehicle, an AGV car, or the like, is a transport vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic or optical automatic guide device, capable of traveling along a predetermined guide path, and having safety protection and various transfer functions.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 1, in a logistics access system, the application scenario includes an external platform area and a database area. The external platform area is provided with a workstation and is configured for personnel to pick. Two layers of steel platforms are arranged between the work station and the warehouse-setting area, and the AGV trolley can realize horizontal four-way autonomous running on the platform. The two sides of the vertical warehouse area are provided with roadway changing platforms, and the AGV trolley can realize forward turning on the platforms so as to drive into adjacent roadways; in the same tunnel of the vertical warehouse area, a section of vertical layer changing channel is arranged every several meters, and the AGV trolley can climb or descend in the channel, so that the layer changing of the tunnel is realized. Therefore, the AGV trolley can realize autonomous running in six directions in the vertical warehouse area, and intelligent picking tasks are efficiently completed.

In fig. 1, the travel path of the AGV carriage is composed of path units one by one, and the path units are connected by nodes. This will be described below in connection with fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a node provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, in a logistics storage and retrieval system, the logistics storage and retrieval system includes a three-dimensional shelf, a driving area of the three-dimensional shelf is formed by multiple layers, each layer includes multiple channels, and the node is a junction between a layer-changing/lane-changing channel and a lane. The trolley can run in the running area of the three-dimensional goods shelf. In the embodiment of the application, the trolley can only realize turning at the node, namely, the trolley enters the layer changing channel from the horizontal tunnel, or the trolley enters the layer changing channel, or the layer changing channel enters the layer changing channel.

If there is no other node between the two nodes, the vehicle cannot make a turn when traveling to the path unit between the two nodes, and the path unit between the two nodes is referred to as a minimum path unit. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a minimum path unit provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, including a node a and a node B, where there are no other nodes between the node a and the node B, and only one path between the node a and the node B, that is, a line segment AB. In fig. 3, the segment AB is a minimum path unit. If two AGVs travel in opposite directions and both travel into a minimum path unit, at least one AGV must travel in reverse to avoid blocking or collision. For example, in fig. 3, two carts are traveling in opposite directions and are traveling on line AB, where one cart must be reversed to avoid blocking.

According to the example of fig. 1 and 2, when a plurality of AGVs travel in an area, a situation may occur in which a plurality of AGVs travel in the same lane toward each other, thereby causing jamming. If effective track cooperation is not performed, long-time congestion is possibly caused, the system operation efficiency is greatly reduced, even the situation that the channel outlet is blocked due to the fact that the AGV is occupied occurs, and serious accidents of the whole system are caused.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a track cooperation scheme, and the scheme of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a track cooperation method provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, the method is applied to a logistics storage system, the logistics storage system includes a three-dimensional shelf and a plurality of trolleys capable of shuttling in a running area of the three-dimensional shelf, and the method may include:

s41, determining a second trolley with a conflict path between the planned path and the planned path of the first trolley according to the planned path of each trolley.

A server can be arranged in the logistics access system, and user tracks cooperate. The server can be independently arranged on any trolley or arranged on one trolley, and the server comprises a planned path of each trolley. According to the planned path of each trolley, a second trolley with a collision path between the planned path and the planned path of a first trolley can be obtained, wherein the first trolley can be any trolley in the logistics storage system.

The collision path of the first trolley and the second trolley means that the planned paths of the first trolley and the second trolley have an overlapping portion, and the running direction of the first trolley and the running direction of the second trolley are opposite in the overlapping portion. For example, if the planned path of the first cart is a-B-C-D and the planned path of the second cart is E-D-C-F, then there is a collision between the planned paths of the first cart and the second cart, and the collision path is C-D or D-C, and on the collision path, the traveling directions of the first cart and the second cart are opposite.

S42, before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley according to the conflict path, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley.

After the second trolley with the conflict path with the planned path of the first trolley is obtained, before the first trolley enters the conflict path or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, respectively sending a first control instruction to instruct the running path of the first trolley, and sending a second control instruction to instruct the running path of the second trolley to the second trolley, so that the running paths of the first trolley and the second trolley are prevented from being in conflict.

According to the track cooperation method provided by the embodiment of the application, the planning paths of the trolleys in the logistics storage system are firstly obtained, and the second trolley with the conflict path between the planning paths of the trolleys and the planning paths of the first trolley is determined according to the planning paths of the trolleys, wherein the first trolley can be any trolley in the logistics storage system. After a second trolley which conflicts with the planned path of the first trolley is determined, before the first trolley enters the conflict path or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley to indicate the running mode of the first trolley, and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley to indicate the running mode of the second trolley, so that the first trolley and the second trolley are guaranteed to have no conflict in running. According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, aiming at the trolley with the conflict paths in the two planning paths, the running modes of the two trolleys are adjusted before the two trolleys enter the conflict paths, so that the conflict of the running paths of the two trolleys is solved, the path planning of the two trolleys after the two trolleys enter the conflict paths can be avoided, the problem that the trolleys have to pause or reverse in a mode to solve the conflict can be avoided, and the running efficiency of the logistics access system is improved.

The following will describe the embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to specific examples.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a track cooperation method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5, including:

S51, acquiring a conflict path.

Before track coordination, the conflicting paths between the carts are first acquired. The collision path of any two trolleys refers to a path through which the two trolleys pass, and the running directions of the two trolleys when passing through the collision path are opposite. Therefore, when a conflict path exists between two trolleys, if track cooperation is not performed, the running of the trolleys is caused to conflict, the path is blocked, and the dispatching efficiency of the logistics access system is reduced.

For the first trolley, before track coordination is performed on the first trolley, a collision path of the first trolley and a collision path of the second trolley are acquired first. The method for calculating the collision path is as follows:

updating all paths in the advancing process, keeping the end point unchanged, and starting the real-time position of the corresponding trolley of the paths. Setting the planned path of the current trolley as For each path in progress:

Let the path start point be o _v, the end point be d _v, and the path node be (In a roadway, each node is a position on the track, which is opposite to the storage center; in a layer-changing channel and a roadway-changing channel, the node position is designated according to actual conditions); its reverse order is/>If the sub-path with the length not less than 2 exists in the trolley planning path and is completely overlapped with the sub-path of the other trolley in the reverse order, the overlapped sub-path is the conflict path of the two trolleys.

This will be described below with reference to fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of conflicting paths provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, each of a left vehicle 61 and a right vehicle 62 has a respective planned path, a plurality of nodes are indicated in fig. 6, and the planned paths of the two vehicles are indicated by the nodes as follows:

the planned path of the left vehicle 61 is n11-n21-n22-n23-n24-n34-n44-n45-n46;

the planned path of the right vehicle 62 is n17-n16-n15-n25-n35-n34-n24-n23-n22-n21-n31-n41-n40. In fig. 6, n11, n21, etc. are nodes on the path, and each node is connected to a plurality of path elements.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a reverse path provided by an embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 7, a trolley travels in a reverse direction along a planned path:

As shown in the figure, the planned path of the trolley is in the right direction, and on the basis of this, the trolley travels in the reverse direction in the left direction. In general, this operation occurs because a trolley traveling in opposite directions appears in front, and the trolley can avoid the dead situation only by traveling on the reverse planned route.

For example, in fig. 6, the planned path of the left vehicle 61 is:

n11-n21-n22-n23-n24-n34-n44-n45-n46, the reverse path is:

n46-n45-n44-n34-n24-n23-n22-n21-n11。

comparing the reverse path of the left vehicle 61 and the planned path of the right vehicle 62, it is found that the reverse path of the left vehicle 61 and the planned path of the right vehicle 62 each include n34-n24-n23-n22-n21, and the path n34-n24-n23-n22-n21 is a collision path of the left vehicle 61 and the right vehicle 62.

Alternatively, the reverse path of the right vehicle 62 may be obtained, and then the planned path of the left vehicle 61 may be compared with the reverse path of the right vehicle 62, resulting in a conflicting path that is consistent.

As can be seen from the above, for the first trolley and the second trolley, the collision path of the two trolleys is part of the planned path of the first trolley and also part of the planned path of the second trolley, and the traveling direction of the first trolley on the collision path is opposite to the traveling direction of the second trolley on the collision path.

Fig. 6 and 7 illustrate how a second cart having a conflicting path with a first cart is acquired, and how a conflicting path is acquired. According to the method illustrated in fig. 6 and 7, for any trolley, a trolley with a collision path with the trolley and a corresponding collision path can be obtained according to the planned path of each trolley.

S52, judging whether a potential conflict path exists, if so, executing S54, and if not, executing S53.

After the planned paths of the respective trolleys are acquired for the first trolley, a second trolley which conflicts with the planned path of the first trolley can be obtained according to the planned path of the first trolley and the planned paths of other trolleys.

Alternatively, there may be a collision between the planned paths of the plurality of carts and the planned path of the first cart, at which time the planned paths between the respective carts and the first cart are determined, and the cart whose planned path is closest to the first cart is determined as the second cart.

And S53, driving according to the planned path.

For the first trolley, if the planned path of the first trolley does not have a conflict path with the planned paths of any other trolley, the first trolley can run according to the original planned path and cannot generate any conflict with other trolleys.

S54, judging whether the conflict type is the occupied channel conflict, if so, executing S55, and if not, executing S56.

If the planned path of the first trolley and the planned paths of other trolleys have conflicting paths, firstly determining a second trolley corresponding to the first trolley, namely, a trolley with the conflicting paths closest to the first trolley among a plurality of trolleys with the conflicting paths of the planned paths of the first trolley. Then, a determination is made as to the type of conflicting paths between the first cart and the second cart.

In the running area of the logistics storage system, each path unit is connected through a node, and the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley can be judged through the node between the first trolley and the second trolley.

Specifically, the number of nodes included in the collision path of the first cart and the second cart is first acquired. If the number of nodes included in the conflict path is 2, determining that the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the lane occupation conflict, and if the number of nodes included in the conflict path is more than 2, determining that the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the non-lane occupation conflict.

Several concepts in the lane conflict will be explained first in connection with fig. 8-10.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a track lock point according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 8, for a critical path of any path, a starting point is set to be m, an end point is set to be n, after braking distances are respectively extended on two sides of the critical path, a new starting point is set to be m ', and a new end point is set to be n'. Assuming that the planned paths of the trolley a and the trolley b cover m 'n', the running directions of the trolley a and the trolley b in the m 'n' are opposite, and the trolley a enters the path m 'n' earlier than the trolley b, then the trolley a occupies the path m 'n, namely the occupied road of the trolley a is m' n. When car a occupies m 'n, car b cannot drive into m' n. If trolley b has driven through n ', but trolley a still occupies n, trolley b immediately brakes and waits to park in braking area nn'.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of track release provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 9, where nn 'is a braking distance of the trolley b and pp' is a braking distance of the trolley b. The trolley a has driven out from the n points, or the trolley a plans a new path and does not pass through n, the occupied path is released immediately:

When the trolley a has driven out of the n points, immediately releasing the m' n paths;

when the trolley a does not drive out of the n point and other nodes exist between the trolley a and the n point, the trolley a can reprogram the path, the reprogram path does not pass through the n point, and the pn path can be released assuming that the overlapping part of the reprogram path and m' n is mp.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a track length setting provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 10, after a car a and a car b that run in opposite directions simultaneously drive into a road mn, there are different processing manners according to specific conditions of the road mn.

If the road section mn is a minimum path unit, that is, no other node exists between the point m and the point n, and after the trolley a and the trolley b oppositely travel into the road section mn, no turning place exists, at least one trolley must be reversed to eliminate the blocking.

If the road section mn is not a minimum path unit, that is, other nodes exist between the point m and the point n, and the distance between the trolley a and the trolley b and the node is not smaller than the braking distance, the vehicle can turn through one trolley, and the other trolley can select a continuous driving mode, a deceleration mode or a waiting mode according to the situation to eliminate the blocking.

It can be seen from the above that only after the trolley a and the trolley b simultaneously drive into one minimum path unit, the situation that at least one trolley must be backed up occurs, and the backing up in this scenario is to free up a channel and is not a planned backing up, so that the cost is higher than the cost of waiting in advance at the turning position/occupying the entrance of the lane, and thus the occupying length is set to be the length of the first minimum path unit to be currently driven by the trolley to be planned.

Since the occurrence of reversing can result in higher waiting costs for the entire logistics access system, it is desirable to avoid such situations as much as possible. In the embodiment of the present application, different solutions may be adopted for different types of collision paths, which will be described below.

S55, immediately turning to.

If the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the lane occupation conflict, the conflict path comprises 2 nodes, namely a third node and a fourth node, when the distance between the first trolley and the third node is smaller than or equal to the braking distance and the distance between the second trolley and the fourth node is larger than the braking distance, the first control instruction instructs the first trolley to travel according to the planned third travel path after traveling to the third node to turn, wherein the braking distance is the distance of the trolley travel between starting braking and stopping of the trolley, and the second control instruction instructs the second trolley to brake and wait before reaching the fourth node.

This is explained below with reference to fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of conflict resolution provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 11, in which a cart a is a first cart, a cart b is a second cart, a point m is a third node, and a point n is a fourth node. At this time, the collision path of the trolley a and the trolley b is a line segment mn, the line segment mn comprises two nodes, at this time, the braking distance of the trolley a is a line segment mm ', and the braking distance of the trolley b is a line segment nn'.

In this case, when the vehicle a has not yet traveled m 'but has not yet traveled n', the vehicle b may be controlled to turn at the node m and travel, and the travel path after turning may be the third travel path. It is also possible to control cart b to travel after turning at node n when cart b has traveled n 'but has not traveled n and cart a has not traveled m'.

In the example of fig. 11, the trolley a and the trolley b are about to drive into a minimum path unit (i.e. mn), if when one of the trolleys has already entered the minimum path unit and the other trolley has not yet entered, for example in fig. 11, the trolley b has entered mn first, the trolley a which has entered the last minimum path unit later waits for braking in the braking area mm ', the first entered trolley b locks the point m' and then re-plans the path, and the vehicle turns after driving to the point m.

S56, calculating the re-planning cost.

S57, judging whether the re-planning cost is higher than the immediate steering cost, if so, executing S58, and if not, executing S59.

When the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is a non-occupation conflict, the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley comprises more than 2 nodes, the more than 2 nodes on the conflict path comprise a first node and a plurality of second nodes, the first node is the nearest node to the first trolley on the conflict path, and the other nodes are all second nodes.

At the moment, the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is non-occupation conflict, and at the moment, the first trolley and the second trolley both have space for continuing to travel according to the original planned path, and the path can be re-planned for traveling.

That is, when the first trolley arrives at the first node and the second trolley does not enter the collision path yet, the first control instruction may instruct the first trolley to travel according to the re-planned first travel path after traveling to the first node to turn, at this time, after the first trolley turns at the first node, the re-planned first travel path will not pass through the collision path, the collision paths of the first trolley and the second trolley will not exist, at this time, the second trolley may travel according to the originally planned path.

Or the first trolley does not turn at the first node or temporarily runs according to the original planned path, the first control instruction can instruct the first trolley to run according to the planned path to one of the plurality of second nodes on the conflict path, then run according to the re-planned second running path, and the first trolley turns again when running to a certain second node according to the first control instruction. When the first trolley runs to the second node i to turn, the second trolley does not reach the second node i yet, and the second node i is one of a plurality of second nodes; the second control instruction indicates the second trolley to run according to the corresponding planned path.

When the first trolley runs to the second node i, the second trolley does not reach the second node i, and after the first trolley turns at the second node i, the first trolley and the second trolley do not collide.

Since the first cart may turn at a first node or at some second node when the type of conflicting path is a non-lane conflict, it is also necessary to determine which node to turn in particular.

Specifically, when the first cart arrives at the first node and the second cart has not entered the conflicting path:

If the first time is smaller than or equal to a smaller value in the preset time and the second time, the first control instruction indicates the first trolley to drive according to the first driving path after driving to the first node to turn, and at the moment, the first trolley turns at the first node according to the first control instruction;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram for resolving a collision according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 12, including a trolley a and a trolley b, in which fig. 12 illustrates a planned path of each of the trolley a and the trolley b, and a collision path of the trolley a and the trolley b can be obtained from fig. 12, and an end point of the trolley a is n0.

In fig. 12, the collision path of the trolley a and the trolley b exceeds one minimum path unit, and the collision path includes more than 2 nodes, so that at this time, there is room for both trolleys to continue traveling along the original planned path.

When the trolley a enters the conflict path but no lane occupation conflict is formed, a waiting strategy is made at the entrance of the conflict path, and the trolley a is set as the trolley which enters the next minimum path unit first, the conflict path clearing time t _empty (namely preset time), the path running time t ₁ (namely first time) which is re-planned after the current time and the path running time t ₂ (namely second time) which is re-planned after the next exit are locked are calculated first, and then corresponding processing is carried out according to the relation among the preset time, the first time and the second time.

If min (t _empty,t₂)≥t₁, then cart a turns at the first node and re-plans the path to travel;

If min (t _empty,t₂)<t₁, after the trolley a runs to the next exit, recalculating a new conflict path clearing time t _empty, locking a current back-and-forth rescheduled path running time t ₁ and locking a next-exit rescheduled path running time t ₂, and judging whether turning running at the current exit is needed or not according to the new conflict path clearing time t _empty, the current back-and-forth rescheduled path running time t ₁ and the next-exit-locked rescheduled path running time t ₂.

After entering the collision path, the trolley a has a plurality of potential outlets for the trolley a to exit, so that the situation of blocking with the trolley b is avoided. After entering the next node each time, the trolley a decides whether to turn at the current exit or not according to the strategy, and drives out the conflict path.

Optionally, the first time and the second time are calculated as follows:

obtaining a first time according to the number of path units included in the first travel path and the average travel time of each path unit; and obtaining the second time according to the number of the path units included on the second running path and the average running time of each path unit.

Specifically, an initial travel time t _unit for each path unit may be predefined, wherein:

l _unit is the length of the path element and v _unit is the maximum travel speed of the trolley on the path element. Alternatively, v _unit may be made equal to the maximum travel speed of the trolley.

Assuming that the path of travel re-planned after locking the current exit node is path1, the path of travel re-planned after locking the next exit node is path2, the set of minimum path units included in path1 is set1, and the set of minimum path units included in path2 is set2, the first time and the second time can be obtained as follows:

That is, the first time is obtained from the number of minimum path units included in the travel time t _unit and path1 of each path unit, and the second time is obtained from the number of minimum path units included in the travel time t _unit and path2 of each path unit.

Optionally, the initial running time of the path unit may be updated, and for any path unit k in the running area, the initial running time of the path unit k is obtained according to the length and the preset speed of the path unit k; acquiring the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k; and updating the initial travel time of the path unit k according to the travel time of each trolley passing through the path unit k, so as to obtain the average travel time of the path unit k.

For the preset time, it may be determined according to the following manner:

The initial value t' _unit＝t_unit of the clearing time of each path unit can be preset, for any conflict path in the planned path, the number of the minimum path units contained in the path is j, the difference delta t between the entering time of the trolley entering the conflict path first and the ending time of the conflict path is recorded, and then the average clearing time of each path unit on the conflict path is delta t/j.

Then, updating the path element purge time according to the average purge time of each path element as deltat/j:

t'_unit←b·t'_unit+(1-b)·(Δt/j)。

wherein b is a constant between 0 and 1.

If the current collision path is set to be path, the corresponding preset time t _empty is:

In fig. 12, if the cart a turns at the exit 1, the re-planned path is the first path, and the destination n0 is reached through the first path; if the trolley a turns at the outlet 2, the re-planned path is a second path, and the destination n0 is reached through the second path; if cart a turns at exit 3, the re-planned path is the propyl path, through which end point n0 is reached, and so on.

S58, turning at the current outlet.

When the re-planning cost is higher than the immediate steering cost, the first trolley immediately steers and turns at the current exit.

S59, driving to the next node along the original path.

When the re-planning cost is not higher than the immediate steering cost, the first trolley continues to travel to the next node along the original planning path, then the re-planning cost and the immediate steering cost are continuously calculated, and the immediate steering or the traveling according to the original planning path is determined according to the calculation result.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a track coordination device according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 13, including a processing module 131 and a control module 132, where:

The processing module 131 is configured to determine, according to the planned path of each trolley, a second trolley having a collision path between the planned path and the planned path of a first trolley, where the first trolley and the second trolley are each one of a plurality of trolleys that can shuttle in a three-dimensional shelf driving area of the logistics storage and retrieval system;

The control module 132 is configured to send a first control instruction to the first cart and a second control instruction to the second cart according to the collision path before the first cart enters the collision path and/or before the second cart enters the collision path, where the first control instruction is used to instruct a driving manner of the first cart, and the second control instruction is used to instruct a driving manner of the second cart.

In one possible implementation, the control module 132 is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the driving area is formed by a plurality of path units, and the path units are connected by nodes; the control module 132 is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the processing module 131 is further configured to:

acquiring the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k;

The device provided by the embodiment of the invention can be used for executing the technical scheme of the embodiment of the method, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not repeated here.

The embodiment of the application also provides a logistics storage and retrieval system, which comprises a server, a three-dimensional shelf and a plurality of trolleys capable of shuttling in a three-dimensional shelf driving area, wherein the server is used for acquiring planning paths of the plurality of trolleys and indicating driving modes of a first trolley and a second trolley according to the track cooperation method, the first trolley is one of the plurality of trolleys, and the second trolley is the trolley with a conflict path between the planning paths of the first trolley and the planning paths of the first trolley;

Fig. 14 is a schematic hardware structure of a track coordination device according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 14, where the track coordination device includes: at least one processor 141 and a memory 142. Wherein processor 141 and memory 142 are coupled via bus 143.

Optionally, the model determination further comprises a communication component. For example, the communication component may include a receiver and/or a transmitter.

In a specific implementation, at least one processor 141 executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 142, such that the at least one processor 141 performs the trajectory coordination method as described above.

The specific implementation process of the processor 141 can be referred to the above method embodiment, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and this embodiment will not be described herein again.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 14, it should be understood that the Processor may be a central processing unit (english: central Processing Unit, abbreviated as CPU), or may be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (english: DIGITAL SIGNAL Processor, abbreviated as DSP), application specific integrated circuits (english: application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit, abbreviated as ASIC), or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor for execution.

The memory may comprise high speed RAM memory or may further comprise non-volatile storage NVM, such as at least one disk memory.

The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, the buses in the drawings of the present application are not limited to only one bus or to one type of bus.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein computer execution instructions are stored in the computer readable storage medium, and when a processor executes the computer execution instructions, the track cooperation method is realized.

The computer readable storage medium described above may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile memory device or combination thereof, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk. A readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

An exemplary readable storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the readable storage medium. In the alternative, the readable storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the readable storage medium may reside in an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuits (ASIC). The processor and the readable storage medium may reside as discrete components in a device.

The division of the units is merely a logic function division, and there may be another division manner when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (RAM, random Access Memory), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments described above may be performed by hardware associated with program instructions. The foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The program, when executed, performs steps including the method embodiments described above; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program code, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention, and not for limiting the same; although the invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some or all of the technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A track collaboration method, characterized by being applied to a logistics storage and retrieval system, the logistics storage and retrieval system comprising a three-dimensional shelf and a plurality of trolleys capable of shuttling to a running area of the three-dimensional shelf, the method comprising:

Before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley according to the conflict path and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley;

the sending a first control instruction to the first trolley and a second control instruction to the second trolley according to the conflict path comprises:

According to the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley, a first control instruction is sent to the first trolley, and a second control instruction is sent to the second trolley;

The driving area is composed of a plurality of path units, and the path units are connected by nodes; the determining the type of the collision path between the first trolley and the second trolley according to the collision path comprises the following steps:

If the number of the nodes included in the conflict paths is 2, determining that the type of the conflict paths between the first trolley and the second trolley is track occupation conflict;

if the number of the nodes included in the conflict paths is greater than 2, determining that the type of the conflict paths between the first trolley and the second trolley is non-occupation conflict;

If the type of the conflict path between the first trolley and the second trolley is the non-lane occupation conflict, the conflict path comprises a first node and a plurality of second nodes, and the first node is the nearest node to the first trolley on the conflict path; wherein:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the first cart arrives at the first node and the second cart has not entered the conflicting path:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if the type of collision path between the first cart and the second cart is the lane conflict, the collision path includes a third node and a fourth node thereon; wherein:

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

acquiring the running time of each trolley passing through the path unit k;

6. A trajectory coordination device, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining a second trolley with a conflict path between the planned path and the planned path of a first trolley according to the planned path of each trolley, wherein the first trolley and the second trolley are one of a plurality of trolleys which can shuttle in a three-dimensional goods shelf driving area of the logistics storage and retrieval system;

The control module is used for sending a first control instruction to the first trolley and a second control instruction to the second trolley according to the conflict path before the first trolley enters the conflict path and/or before the second trolley enters the conflict path, wherein the first control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the first trolley, and the second control instruction is used for indicating the running mode of the second trolley;

the control module is specifically used for:

The driving area is composed of a plurality of path units, and the path units are connected by nodes; the control module is specifically used for:

7. A track cooperative apparatus, characterized by comprising: at least one processor and memory;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

The at least one processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in the memory causes the at least one processor to perform the trajectory coordination method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. The utility model provides a commodity circulation access system which characterized in that includes server, three-dimensional goods shelves and can shuttle in a plurality of dollies in three-dimensional goods shelves travel area, wherein:

The server is configured to obtain planned paths of the plurality of carts, instruct a traveling mode of a first cart and a second cart according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, where the first cart is one of the plurality of carts, and the second cart is a cart whose planned path has a collision path with the planned path of the first cart;

9. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the trajectory coordination method of any one of claims 1 to 5.